Superbad

It's Booty Call for the Knocked Up generation. Superbad is a classic adventure of guys trying to get laid in the modern age. In the '90s, it was all the safe sex fiascos. Today, it's quite frankly keeping up with drunk chicks and tricking them into sleeping with you. Hey, I don't make the rules. I just report them.

Movie Review: Superbad

Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cerra) are two sex-crazed high school outcasts approaching graduation. Going to separate colleges, this summer is their last hurrah. Seth's plan is to hook up with a hot chick at a party and date her for the summer, so he'll be really good at sex by the time he hooks up in college. Just landing booze for one night's party creates a whole night of adventure for the duo.

The film is two hours of pure fun. From the opening silhouette dancing credits to the scene-setting sex conversations, it's a world you want to inhabit. Once the adventure stars, the obstacles in our heroes path range from outrageous to irreverent. Considering the stakes, this may be the most important mission of the summer.

The sex conversations exemplify what is beautiful and intelligent about the male personality. They analyze pornography and desirable ladies with comments that are inappropriate and articulate, and always contemplative and intellectual. It's not just a sex drive here. It's the sensitive ego that needs to reach out to a loving body.

Once the adventure starts, those sort of conversations take a back seat. The film's greatest energy is in the beginning and end. But all of the boys encounters throughout the night are compelling. Parties gone wrong, unfortunate biological functions and violence ensure Superbad holds its own with the greatest sex comedies. There are plenty of non-sequiturs to fill the plot with irreverence.

The boys are great. They seem like a natural pair. Hill's exasperated comedy counterbalances Cerra's meek observations eeking out. Their third friend Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) goes off on his own but he's so weird and does such awesome things, it's great.

Superbad is hardly a perfect movie. There are some slower parts than others but it's the kind of movie you like to see. It's not fake like License to Wed. It's just full of jokes with a solid story and characters. Better to succeed 90% with a good attempt than coast by on nothing.